


It's the Way You Smile

by winedad16



Series: Finkeldorf AUs and One-Offs [4]
Category: Jojo Rabbit (2019)
Genre: Father-Daughter Relationship, Hopeful, M/M, Other, Parenthood, Post-Canon, Sad with a Happy Ending, melancholic, writing this made me emotional
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:48:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29788047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winedad16/pseuds/winedad16
Summary: As K begins to take in the reality of a post-WWII world without Freddy, his saving grace comes in the form of a small bundle.(Alternatively: K becomes a dad and does his best to be a father and cope with the loss of the man he loved).
Relationships: Captain Klenzendorf & Original Character, Freddy Finkel/Captain Klenzendorf
Series: Finkeldorf AUs and One-Offs [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1881679
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	It's the Way You Smile

**_“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.”_ **

**_-Marc Riboud_ **

It had been more than a week since the Falkenheim surrender and only days since the Axis’ surrender to the Allies. Since then, K immediately went into hiding. Living at his sister’s for some time while he got himself in order. He was shell-shocked, to say the least. Freddy was gone, his home was gone, his job was gone… And now hundreds of people like him were being put into POW camps. For some time, he seriously considered just turning himself in, just so he didn’t have to deal with the fear of being found out for his sexuality or his position as a German soldier. He often found himself lying on his sister’s couch, staring up to the ceiling, feeling sad one moment and numb the next. He felt so _alone_.

Just before his sister left to drop her baby off at her sister-in-law's, she encouraged K to go out and enjoy the outside world while the kids were in school. Although he was reluctant, he decided to take a walk in the outskirts of town to clear his mind without having to worry about being found. As he reached the more torn-down parts of town from an air raid, he heard the strangest noise reach his ears. Up until then, it had been dead silent, the emptiness of the town consuming him. He tried to ignore the noise but this wasn’t a sound you could just ignore- It made a shiver go down K’s spine the closer he got to it. Something or _someone_ sounded like they desperately needed help.

He eventually found himself in front of a home that looked like it had collapsed in on itself on the corner of the street. He let himself in, leaving the door open behind him as he hoisted himself up and over a particularly large piece of the ceiling before making his way up the stairs as carefully as he could. As he ascended, he realized that the sound was a baby _crying_. His heart stopped in shock for a moment before he made his way up the stairs at a much faster pace. The captain made his way through the rubble that donned the home’s upper floor as he made his way down the hallway to a doorway that was partially blocked by rubble. Straining his back and left shoulder, he moved the heavy pieces of building away before stepping in. When he entered the room, he went right to the crib at the back of the room, tucked away in the corner. When he leaned over the rail, his heart dropped. A small child, no older than eight-months-old laid there, wailing its heart out with small bits of rubble surrounding her, sullying the plush cushion below her.

“Hey…” He softly crooned as he scooped up the small child, being careful to support its neck, not knowing the age of the child. “Hey, little one.”

He slowly rocked the baby in his arms, quietly cooing to soothe its soft cries. The baby looked dirty and definitely malnourished- It broke his heart that it had been left all alone. It had been days since the last raid and it was obvious that no one planned on coming back. He looked around the room as he stroked the crown of the baby’s head, taking in any sign of identification being present. By now he had figured that it was a girl by the feminine-accented furniture, but no other hints to her identity. When he didn’t see anything, he carefully made his way over to the small bureau next to the crib and pulled open the top drawer. There were a few items in there, some hospital documents and some other small objects that probably held sentiment at some time, but no birth certificate. He sighed and looked down at the baby again. He couldn’t just leave her but he was in no position to take care of her. He seriously considered the orphanage until he saw her smile. That’s when everything changed. That’s when he knew he couldn’t turn his back on her.

So, he wrapped the child in the blanket that once draped over the side of the crib and set back out of the home, taking his time down the stairs and carefully maneuvering around every piece of broken building, whether it be large or small. When he arrived back at his sister’s, he immediately searched for a baby bottle and some formula, which his nephew had just come off of. When his sister came home to find him bottle-feeding a baby, she stood in the doorway in shock.

“I didn’t mean to go _baby-stealing_ when I said to get outside,” She half-joked as she made her way over. “What in the world are you doing with a _baby?”_

“She was in one of the buildings on the outskirts of town,” K replied before placing down the empty bottle as his sister leaned over the arm of the couch to inspect the child. “I wouldn’t have found her if I hadn’t gone down the street that I did. She was all alone.”

“She looks to be six-months,” She sighed as she wrapped her cardigan around her torso. “Do you want me to call the orphanage? They’ll come and pick her if you don’t want to walk to the other side of town.”

“I can’t leave her there, Lina,” K softly confessed as he stroked the thin, brown hairs on the baby’s head.

“Klaus, you can’t raise her all on your own. Not with-”

“You haven’t seen her smile,” He replied as he watched the baby slowly close her big, brown eyes before repeating in a whisper, “You haven’t seen her _smile…”_

Lina sighed.

“She can’t stay here. You know that I don’t have the room- You already sleep on the couch.”

K looked up at her.

“Give me a month.”

His sister rolled her lips together in thought.

“Fine. You can use Barrett’s old crib,” She sighed. “One month, K. June 10th and you’ve got to go.”

K let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you.”

Lina nodded and stood from the couch before heading to her room; K now turning his attention back to the little girl in his arms.

“You hear that?” He softly said to the baby in his arms, slightly shifting her up closer. “I’m going to get us situated.”

The baby wriggled around in his arms a bit, snuggling closer into K’s chest. K smiled and wiped his eyes before whispering,

_“We’re going to be okay.”_

The next day, K set out on his journey to build a new life for himself and the baby. He decided against leaving her with his sister and took the baby stroller, much to Lina’s dismay.

_“Just because you’re using Barrett’s old crib doesn’t mean you can borrow other things, I still use that.”_

_“Please, Lina,” K pleaded. “I’ve got to carry her somehow.”_

As odd as it was for a man to be seen with a baby stroller, not many people seemed to question it as they were too busy trying to get by in this new post-war world of theirs. K did his best to keep the little one calm every time they entered the busy world and quickly learned that she enjoyed being held quite a bit. Women would smile and coo whenever he and the baby entered the room, asking questions with wide smiles.

_“What’s her name?” The woman at the registry asked._

_K thought for a moment before giving her a confident answer._

And so, on June 8th, two days before his deadline, he began his new life as Klaus Finkel with his daughter, Annalisa. He had gotten the papers sorted and the money transfers made under the guise of a loss of paperwork in an air raid and the money transfer as the loss of a family member. It wasn’t easy, life wouldn’t allow it to be, but he got what he needed and began a new life with his little girl. He got an apartment, fit for two, and began the life of a stay-at-home dad until she turned two _(he did some rough math to figure out that factor)_. Financially, it wasn’t the best option, he had to pick up odd-jobs here and there just to not take large dips from his savings, but it was worth being able to nurse his little girl back to health. He took to being a father quite quickly, emotionally more so than skill-wise, but he took to it. His parents weren’t around for him to ask questions, not that he’d ever ask them for advice, but his sister was of some help- The occasional phone call was always of help. But, before he knew it, he applied for a carpentry job (which he got), and hired the eighteen-year-old girl who lived next door as Annalisa’s babysitter from Monday to Thursday; 8AM from 4PM Monday from Wednesday and 7AM from 3PM on Thursday.

While embracing the qualms and surprises of fatherhood, he indulged in photography quite a bit. He came to love the piece of technology, which was only becoming easier to use and more portable with every year that passed. He always made sure to put a few outside with the small memorial he made for Freddy in the backyard. 

_Friedrich J. Finkel_

_1907-1945_

_-_

_Son, brother, partner, and friend._

_⚘_

He had inscribed a small flower beneath the words, knowing that Freddy would probably find it endearing, maybe to make up for the mass amount of photos he always placed around his headstone. He cycled through different photos every-other-week and by the end of the 1940s, he had enough photos to fill about seven photo albums. It was expensive, but he deemed it all worth it. They were mainly of Annalisa because she was his favorite subject to photograph, but there were many of the outside world. His favorite one was of him with a four-year-old Annalisa perched up on his arms with her hands placed behind his neck, placing a small kiss on his cheek. He treasured that one, in fact. She was his world.

He talked about his daughter whenever he could to anyone who would listen. He was so _proud_ of her and felt so blessed to have her in his life- And he strived off of that feeling. Whenever she smiled at him and looked up with those big, brown, eyes of hers, his heart swelled. Maybe it’s because she lit up his world, just like Freddy did, but K always told her that she had Freddy’s smile. 

Annalisa heard many stories about Freddy, K’s relationship with him of course being hidden but hinted at more than he realized sometimes, but she probably knew Freddy better than many others did by the time she was four. From stories of the long-gone past to stories of the last few weeks they had spent together, she knew them all.

Despite retelling these stories with a great amount of fondness, K would sometimes feel a sense of longing. When he’d go out to drink, there were a few men that would catch his eye, but it stayed in that bar, keeping his little girl’s safety in mind. When Annalisa got older and slept over at friend’s homes, he went home with a few of them, never back to his place, but they never lasted. He always went back to Freddy. 

Sometimes he’d talk about his day or a drawing Annalisa made for him while he was at work as he made dinner as if Freddy was there- As if he never left. He included Freddy in photo albums, too; Sprinkling the few photos he had left of Freddy here and there. He had his own designated album just for things that reminded him of his past lover, leaving small notes for Freddy to read from Heaven. Sometimes Annalisa would question what he’d put in that photo album, which he’d always kept out of her line of sight, but K would just kiss her temple with a small murmur of _“Many secrets for when you’re older.”_

He was working on said album, lost in thought enough to not hear the soft padding of small footsteps approach him. 

“Papa?” 

K looked up from the photo album he had been working on.

“What is it, my love?” 

“May we play cards? Please?” She asked.

K smiled. 

“Of course we can,” He replied as he put down the pen that was in his hand before standing up. 

He bent down and scooped the six-year-old up into his arms with a small grunt and a smile.

“What do you want to play?” He asked as he walked them off into the sitting room.

“Solitär!” Annalisa excitedly answered before quickly adding a soft, _“Please.”_

K chuckled, not surprised that she wanted to play that game, and scooped the deck of cards off of the mantel before putting Annalisa down onto the floor. He took a seat on the rug by the side of the coffee table as his daughter grabbed a throw blanket from the couch before settling into her Papa’s lap. K kissed her temple with a smile as he exchanged the deck of cards for the blanket.

“Begin to shuffle these for me,” He softly said before kissing her cheek and wrapping the blanket around them.

“Okay, Papa,” Annalisa replied with a smile. “Watch _very_ carefully.” 

K nodded and huddled close to his baby, gently wrapping his arms around her while watching her do her best to mix up the cards. He knew that his life hadn’t been easy- That it wasn’t a happy or good one for a long while, and knew that he wished he could change many things that had happened back then, but when it came to what he had now… He wouldn’t trade it for the world.

**Author's Note:**

> After writing for a prompt of K being a dad on Tumblr I suddenly became incredibly attached to the idea of this piece.  
> I wrote this under a day so it's not very long but I am so immensely proud of this piece and I hope you were moved by it as much as I was when writing it. :)  
> Thanks for reading and enjoy your day/evening. <3
> 
> (Feedback is appreciated- That stuff fuels me 😌)


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